Side Steps

Newcomer

Benze C. Werner

22 April, 11:05 a.m., voice message from Benze C. Werner: “Hello, what the fuck—woke up last night and asked myself what on earth I actually said in that interview yesterday:
What is ‘queer’ about my pieces? ‘Nothing is queer!’ Um. I’d like to revise a few of my statements. Okay, just my morning thoughts.”

The day before, on a park bench in Cologne—Question: “Do you think people who have nothing to do with dance come to your pieces specifically because of the queerness?” Answer: “I’d find it a bit reductive to say it’s ‘only’ about queerness, because what matters to me in my pieces—as simple as it can be—is… emotions, and how to get those emotions out of your fucking body while I invite other people to connect.”

Benze C. Werner—choreographer and performer—explores queer kinships, intimacy, and the politics of pleasure. Central to this practice is an interest in movement-based live performances with a strong connection to music and sound. Werner’s choreographic signature is shaped by the principles of line dance: a score of recurring steps to which the performers can add their own "spice"—a practice in which a specific kind of freedom unfolds, even amidst restriction.

This working method first emerged in 2023 with the solo Reverse Cowgirl—an engagement with the autofictional essay of the same name by McKenzie Wark. In it, Werner examines the sociopolitical figure of the "slut"—a starting point from which the 2024 Bachelor’s thesis Neon Serenade developed. It is a duet about the loss of intimacy and the negotiation of desire, featuring singing performers.

Strictly speaking, there is no actual singing taking place yet; however, it is becoming apparent that the expressive power of contemporary stage dance alone is insufficient for engaging with Werner’s themes: “Music plays a major role. When the raw emotionality found in pop songs—and the bass—permeate the body... it makes me wanna move.” With LP—Werner’s first full-length production—the focus shifts in 2025: a concert format, an invitation into the oral cavity. The creative process undergoes a transformation as well: the songs are created first, followed by the movement vocabulary. Rehearsal becomes a quest—one that initially leads—supported by a Goethe-Institut grant—to the Lesbian Herstory Archives in New York, sparked by reading the work of Joan Nestle: “Stumbling upon individual stories that remain unknown to the general public was incredibly moving.

Renowned figures such as Monique Wittig had already inspired Werner prior to this; consequently, the lyrics in LP appear tinged with darkness: fingernails seeking to burrow beneath the skin—not out of a lust for violence, but rather as an expression of longing and desire. An inner yearning to draw closer to something—"the longing for a better world." The statement remains initially suspended, almost dreamlike— until a police car drives through the park, at which point it suddenly becomes concrete: "a world without police."

The works of Benze C. Werner open up theatrical spaces of longing, within which encounters become possible—between the audience and the performers: "Because the world is burning, and I don’t wanna be alone."
This autumn, The Fools Come Home (working title) will premiere at the emerging-talent platform "west off": a song recital serving as an act of resistance against increasingly authoritarian structures. A plea for closeness in times of isolation.

Thaddäus Maria Jungmann

Transparency Note: Thaddäus Maria Jungmann serves as "vocal dramaturg" for LP.

Next performance in Vienna: S_P_I_T_ Queer Performance Festival, 25 June;
www.tqw.at; www.benzecwerner.com